\nAll that most readers of Maine history remember about John Fairfield is that he was the governor who ordered companies of the state militia into Aroostook for the bloodless and somewhat farcical Aroostook War in 1839. But Fairfield was concerned, as Governor, with many things besides the dispute over our Canadian boundary. He was deeply concerned over progress of the survey of Maine’s geologic structure, and he insisted that at the end of 1839 Dr. Charles Jackson, the state geologist, make a comprehensive report. A copy of that 300 page volume recently came to my attention, and I want to share with you today some of the things people then learned about the geology of Maine.<\/p>\n
In the three previous years the survey had come up the Kennebec only as far as Augusta. In 1839 it continued through to the Canadian border above Jackman. Naturally I was interested in what the state geologist had to say about the area near Waterville 130 years ago; so here it is in his own words: “We set out from Augusta and proceeded toward Waterville, stopping to examine every rock that showed itself above the surface. Waterville is situated on the west bank of the Kennebec at Ticonic Falls in north latitude 42 degrees, 36 minutes and 26 seconds, and west longitude 69-37-45, according to observations by Professor Keely. The place is 153 feet above sea level.”<\/p>\n
Now let me interrupt the geologist’s report with a bit of explanation. Waterville had been a separate town only 37 years when this report was made. The town then encompassed what is now Oakland, and the hamlet that clustered near the bridge that crossed the Kennebec to Winslow was still called Ticonic Village. In the entire town there were about 3,000 people, fewer than 1,000 of whom lived in the village. The Prof. Keely, to whom the report refers, was George Washington Keely, the great-grandfather of Miss Katherine Boutelle, whose father, George Keely Boutelle, was a grandson of the Waterville pioneer attorney and financier, Timothy Boutelle. Keely was professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Waterville College, predecessor of Colby. In fact he was the sixth man to join the faculty, coming in 1829 when the first president, Jeremiah Chaplin, was still in charge. As you shall see, the state geologist’s report in 1839 had a lot more to say about George Washington Keely.<\/p>\n
One other reminder is in order. In the early years of the 19th century the sciences of physics, chemistry, geology, and biology had not become clearly identified. American colleges taught at that time two subjects that were called Natural Philosophy and Natural History. The former later became divided into Physics, Chemistry and Astronomy. The latter became the earth and the life sciences, geology and biology, and other closely related fields. In a college as small as Colby in 1839, one man had to teach both mathematics and natural philosophy.<\/p>\n
Now let us return to the words of the geological report so far as it concerns Waterville. The report continues thus: “This beautiful village is the seat of Waterville College, an institution of the Baptist order, having several learned professors whose aid in this survey we gratefully acknowledge. Prof. Keely, having a good barometer and other required instruments, furnished a series of observations of a sectional line along the Kennebec. He also observed variations of the magnetic meridian, which will be of great value to surveyors and engineers. In 1835 he ascertained that the variation of the compass needle at Waterville College was 12 degrees, 8 minutes west of the true meridian. Professor Loomis, the professor of Natural History, also aided in this investigation.”<\/p>\n
The report continues: “Ticonic Falls first claimed our attention because of the discovery of fossil prints of fern leaves on the rock strata. At this place the river rushes through a break that has been formed by the disruption of stratified slate. The fall is from a ledge of turned up rocks, and varies from 18 to 20 feet. We devoted a whole day to fossil impressions, of which we found a number on the west side of the river. I am convinced the plants that made these fossil prints did not grow on the spot, but that the imprinted rocks were brought down by some ancient river from higher land.<\/p>\n
“While in Waterville we visited several interesting spots. On the estate of Baxter Crowell in West Waterville, near the outlet of Snow Pond, there occurs an important deposit of limestone suitable for agricultural use and for mortar. The rocks at the West Waterville Falls on Emerson Stream are composed of blue limestone and slate alternating with each other. They separate easily when struck with a hammer. The quantity of good limestone that can be obtained here to make lime for agriculture is immense. It will make valuable dressing for the top soil.”<\/p>\n
The geologic survey was much interested in the prospects of mining in Maine, so let us now see what the 1839 report said about it. The geologist was enthusiastic about iron. He said: “In several parts of the state there are sufficiently large deposits of iron in a single bog to supply a blast furnace for many years. Furthermore, iron can be transported to a great distance, as is shown by the way such ore is already profitably carried from certain Maine islands to Boston and thence to furnaces in the interior.” The geologist admitted that bog iron is of lower grade than mountain ore, but we must remember that he was writing before the Bessemer process of making steel revolutionized the iron industry.<\/p>\n
So he insisted that, in comparison with mountain iron, bog iron was more easily smelted and was actually preferred by users. He concluded: “The manufacture of iron is a most profitable business, paying workmen much better wages than in the gold mines.”<\/p>\n
The report also refers to the value of mica. It said: “Mica is applied to many useful purposes and is abundant in Oxford County, especially in parts of the towns of Paris and Albany. It is much used for lanterns because of its transparency and its ability to withstand heat. This also makes it especially suitable for windows of coal stoves.” What the report was describing was the manufactured mica that we old timers called isinglass.<\/p>\n
The report called attention to deposits of feldspar in the town of Waterford, and made this comment: “This mineral is valuable for making nicer kinds of porcelain and artificial teeth.”<\/p>\n
The survey found asbestos on Deer Isle and pointed out: “This mineral is woven into cloth and made into purses. It is not affected by fire and is useful for fire-proof safes. It can easily be made into non-combustible paper.”<\/p>\n
My listeners will by this time be aware that the purpose of that old geologic survey was to promote the economy of Maine. What was there in the Maine earth that would make money for those who exploited the products? That was the big question.<\/p>\n
It was therefore limestone, granite and slate that received most attention. More pages are devoted to limestone than to any other deposit, because of its known value as fertilizer. The time was long before the days of reinforced concrete, though plenty of limestone was even then going into the making of mortar.<\/p>\n
But in 1839 Maine was still an agricultural state, and the report emphasizes that Maine farms could be richly improved by lime, not only from the rich deposits near Thomaston and Rockland, but in every Maine county. The report pointed to rich finds of limestone in Athens, Clinton, Farmington, Hanover, Norway, Phillips, Turner and Winslow.<\/p>\n
In 1839 what was soon to develop as Maine’s great granite boom was just getting underway, and prophetic was the statement in the report: “Soon most of the larger cities east of the Mississippi will see public buildings made of Maine granite.” His ecstatic enthusiasm, however, the geologist reserved for Maine slate. Let us have his remarks about it in his own words: “The slate quarries of Maine are capable of producing many millions of dollars, and the public is now beginning to wake up to their situation, extent and value in our state. A trifling bounty of 50 cents a ton on slate from Maine quarries. and 10 cents a hundred square feet on glass made in Maine would at once set all the wheels of industry in motion, and our resources would no longer remain idle and unproductive. Not an ounce of glass is now made here, although the raw materials are abundant. A railroad is much needed from Bangor to the Piscataquis River. This would bring minerals, agricultural and manufactured products to market, as well as provide communication with the rapidly growing town of Bangor. There is open navigation on the Penobscot from Bangor to the sea, affording access to the markets of the world.”<\/p>\n
It is interesting to note the population of several Maine communities when that report was made in 1839. I have already said that Waterville then had about 3,000 people, including those in what is now Oakland. Augusta was much larger, having more than 6,000. Lewiston, just emerging from what had been the tiny village of Lewiston Falls, had grown to 2,800, less than 100 persons larger than my native town of Bridgton. Bangor was growing fast, and in 1840 passed the 10,000 figure. At that time Portland had only 18,000, but was even then by far the largest community in the state.<\/p>\n
In our immediate vicinity, Winslow had 1,500 people, Sidney 1,700, Belgrade 1,600, Fairfield 2,000. The largest place in Kennebec County in 1839 was not Augusta, but Gardiner, which had 6,400 people. Hallowell with 4,600 was then much larger than Waterville Interesting is the size of many strictly rural communities in 1839. More than 1,100 people then lived in Benton. China, with 2,500, had almost as many people as Waterville. More than 2,000 lived in Litchfield, more than 1,400 in Mount Vernon, and more than 1,800 in Readfield. Even sparsely settled Rome had more than 800 people.<\/p>\n
This broadcast started out talking about Maine geology 130 years ago and ends with reference to our state’s once more equally distributed population. Believe it or not, the two had something to do with each other. But our time is now up, and we must say goodbye until next week.<\/p>\n
Year: 1970<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #829, Broadcast on January 18, 1970<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1205,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}